


Social Experiment

by achluophobia



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Tokyo Ghoul, Cannibalism, Child Neglect, Gen, Not Beta Read, POV First Person, matsuda / junko if you squint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21914938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achluophobia/pseuds/achluophobia
Summary: Kibougamine, a school meant to breed talent, is the only school in all of Tokyo that proudly states it has both human and ghoul attendees.Kibougamine, a school meant to be a beacon of hope for integration of species, keeps secrets that it hides under that guise of good intentions.What lies beneath the surface of hope?A soldier seeks the truth.
Relationships: Enoshima Junko/Matsuda Yasuke
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hand-Written originally on 4/14/2015 for a school assignment. Only put here to have a digital copy. Not interested in Tokyo Ghoul anymore. Abandoned work.

Some call us ghouls "monsters".  
Abominations.  
Devils.  
Nightmares.

I never understood the malice a human could hold to another species.  
We weren't _evil_. We were just different. I know some hatred comes from this so-called apex species being predated. Hatred because we eat humans. But it's not as if we could eat anything else. The way I see it, us ghouls evolved as an answer to overpopulation. A new predator, from the hands of mother nature.  
Some humans, though...  
Some are nice. My father was. 

It's rare that children were ever born to ghoul and human couples. It's even rarer the baby survives. If the mother is human, commonly she'll refuse to eat human flesh, and the hybrid child will die of malnutrition. Hybrid ghouls are still cursed to only be able to eat humans, after all. But my family got lucky, if you could even call it that. My mother was one of the stronger ghouls in our tiny town, our backalley village, in that she could keep going even if she was starving. Her Kagune kept up with her regardless of how little she had eaten. My father, having seen my mother unmasked at only one point, saw her inherent personhood before seeing her monstrous behavior. He had my own same ideals - ghouls weren't unlovable, simply different. I never heard the whole story, but they fell in love deeply, promising to never harm eachother or any of the other's respective species. Momma had the harder promise, of course, but her vows stayed strong even through marriage. And eventually, they had children. Yes, plural - me and my twin sister. Twins were rare enough, but to have even a single child to a cross-species couple was even less common. But somehow... Somehow, it happened. I think, though, the worst part was that we weren't both hybrids.

Even though my parents thought we would be.  
They fed us like we had been, both feeding on human flesh through the womb of mama as well as at the dinner table once we could. The realization hit us hard.

No one knew, not until my mother tried to teach us how to properly use kagune. My twin sister, though... Ryouko wasn't a half-ghoul at all. She was _human_. My mother was upset, but my father was absolutely horrified. I knew momma had wanted us both to be hybrids. They're intensely powerful creatures, moreso than pureblooded ghouls were, far more so. And to my mother, though she never hunted the living anymore, she still had the idea that strength was everything to a ghoul. It was in her blood to believe such a thing. And... mine, too. I was a pure-blooded ghoul, having gotten all of her genes, while Ryouko got all of father's humanity. While mother was mourning the loss of power that twin halflings would be, father was far more upset about the fact Ryouko had been fed on human flesh, had involuntarily cannibalized her own kind. This alone caused enough commotion within the household that I was nearly forgotten - but not by my twin. Never. I knew she would always love me, always be there for me. We had been closer than anyone during our childhood. And even beyond that, we protected eachother. Much to our father's dismay, Ryouko refused to change her diet, refused to be swayed from her cannibal ways, so I would hunt for her. And, as she was human... She went to school, brought back as much knowledge as she could, taught me as much as was possible to do. I tried, but the scent of humanity that wasn't my own family was nauseatingly sweet - I always ended up too hungry to do so much as focus on a single lesson. That got us into a lot of trouble, more than we could normally handle - so I dropped out of school and Ryouko left as well, enrolled elsewhere and changed her name. She had always wanted to, in the first place - saying that Ryouko was far too plain. And thus, she refused to answer to any name but Junko.

Even as our household slowly regained stability from this realization, from that sudden bout of chaos... I don't think our parents even remembered me. They were always fussing about Junko, or eachother. I was only nine, and already, the most ignored in the house. I tried my hardest to be a good little girl, getting everything done and helping Junko when she needed it, but nothing changed. And then, I tried very hard to be a _bad_ little girl. I would trash the house, go off and make the worst friends I could. I even ended up joining a ghoul-only gang, comparable to Aogiri, but far more militant. They called themselves Fenrir, the wolf of Ragnarok. And still... nothing... nothing at all changed. Everything was as dull as ever, until one evening, two years later. An evening I still remember, still hate, as clearly as ever. 

I was alone, as usual. Sitting in the middle of my and Junko's shared room, building a fort of pillows that bridged our beds. Junko herself was at school, of course. And father came upstairs, to our room - a rare occurrence. I had heard his footsteps before he even got to the top of the stairs, and perhaps naively, I had allowed hope to bloom in my heart. I was a child, desperate for acknowledgement. Desperate for a parent's love. I had hoped he would finally see me, had hoped he would realise that I, too, was an essential part of the family.  
Those childish dreams were crushed in a single statement.

"Mukuro!" he called, and my heart rose - but his next words broke it. "Your mother is pregnant. It's a girl! You and Junko are going to have a little sister!"

I froze, eyes wide. A new sibling?  
But... wasn't Junko and I enough?  
It's not even like they were good parents to us in the first place. Ignoring the children they already had. They'd hardly pay the least bit of attention to me, even if Junko was slightly more well received. 

"Isn't it great? Aren't you excited? I hope she's healthy." 

"D..dad...?"

"If everything turns out well, we are planning on naming her Monaka, similar to your mother's name. She wants her to be just like her."

"But, dad, you... You can't have more kids! You have us already!"

"Ah, I know you'll love her! You'll be as excited as we are once you see her."

Disregarding my objections, he left the room. Tears full of hatred and despair threatened to spill from my already-stormy grey eyes, and I hiccuped, holding a sob back. _I_ was supposed to be named after my mother, even though we looked nothing alike. I was supposed to carry on the trend of syllabic matching. Junko was the one who even remotely looked like she belonged to the family, a splitting image of father. We were fraternal twins, after all. While she had the crimson hair and scarlet eyes like dad, I had deep blue-black hair and grey eyes like mother's parents. Monaka would look just like mom, knowing my luck. If she did, she'd be the pride of the family - mother's beauty was unmatched. And most likely, a half-ghoul. Monaka would be the perfect combination of our parents, and I hated her for it. 

I hated my new sibling before she was even born. 

But Junko was always there for me.

Always.

Her beauty, her eye-catchingly bright red hair and eyes against pale skin was always a welcome sight. I knew, no matter what happened, she'd be there for me. After she came back from school, or after I came back from training with Fenrir, we'd be together again. Twins were meant to always be a pair. That day, though, things were different. I had stayed in my room all day long, hate boiling under my skin for my absent parents. I missed training, and Fenrir didn't even bother to call, nor come to the house and investigate. I had been completely forgotten by everyone - my parents, my nonexistent friends, my militia-like gang. I may have been just eleven, but I had never missed training until that day. I was alone. Completely abandoned. But... My sister... Junko was there for me. The only one who ever was. She came home full of glee that day, same as she always did, her red hair bouncing as she flounced off of the schoolbus and into the house. I watched from our upstairs window, even as she disappeared into the door. I heard her call for me from the bottom of the stairs, but couldn't peel myself away from the window, staring into nothing.

"Mukuro-ne, I'm home!"

I didn't answer.

There was a long pause, and she came upstairs, jiggled the knob on our door. I'd locked it, as soon as father left, knowing I'd have to tell her the news if she came into the room. I wasn't ready. I don't think I ever could have been ready. If she never entered our bedroom, I'd never have to say it. I didn't want to be the one to let her know... but it was my responsibility. I was older, if only by a few moments, and that meant I was automatically tasked with telling her what had happened. 

"Mukuro, why's the door locked? Let me in already, I want to get out of this uniform. It's so ugly, and it's _so_ itchy."

I grit my teeth. Ever since starting school, her sweet and melancholy voice had changed into something more 'street', more adult than she really was. She talked like a gyaru, and some days, I wished she'd go back to her quiet but charming self. My gaze shifted towards the door as she tugged the knob again, eyes dull and lifeless as I stared. I did not want to get up. And yet... I did. I stood and unlocked the door, reluctantly allowing her into our room. Forcing a happy expression to my face, I smiled. 

"Hey there, Jun. I'm glad you got home okay..! Any trouble at school?" Internally, I cringed at my own motherly behavior. I knew I was mothering her. But she was _human_ and the instinctual feeling that she was naive and vulnerable never left me. Not to mention that I had taken on such a way of acting since mom had slowly stopped making the effort. Junko had no idea the kind of horrors that existed in the ghoul world. Not now. And as long as I could protect her from that, the better. Even if I knew she'd have to find out some day.

"No trouble, kyahaha! I talked with our substitute about fashion the who~le class through, so she never even got the lesson finished! It was great!" She giggled, sashaying into the room and tossing her backpack onto her bed carelessly. "She was wearing an hermés scarf, and I recognized it cos' i was looking at those at the mall the other day, so we talked about that and all kinds'a fancy brands I want to get."

"Oh, that's fun. It's not nice to interrupt the lesson, though, you know. Say, uh... Junko. What do you think of our parents?"

"That's... a weird question, Mukuro-ne. I guess they're okay. I don't talk to them as much as I used to. But that's okay. I just wanna spend time together with you! I mean, you're my best friend, Mukuro!" Junko exclaimed, turning to face me with a sparkling grin. She'd been picking through her closet, but had paused to throw her arms around me in a hug. 

I never wanted to see her experience despair or sadness. That smile, that glee, poured such happiness into my heart it was easy to momentarily forget why I was ever lonely. She was too pure, too beautiful, to be brought down with the kind of negativity I felt. 

"Thank you, Jun... It really means a lot. I needed that. Um... I - I don't know how to say this, but..." I paused. What could I say? This was going to crush her no matter how I spun it. "There's - well, our parents... Or, um, mom's - m-mom's pregnant. They're... we're going to have a little sister. H-her name - her name is... she'll be named after m-mommy..."

I broke into tears, my words splintering with a sob. 

Supposedly, I was the elder twin. By two hours. I was supposed to be the protector, the knowledgable and well-behaved twin, according to folklore. But I was still only 11. I wasn't anyone special, even with my ghoul genes.

"Mukuro...," she whispered, taking me into a warm hug, "You'll always be my favourite, okay? Even if mom and dad don't notice how cool and important you are sometimes. You know that I won't, right? I love you, big sister! We don't need anyone else." 

Slowly, my Kagune unfurled from my shoulderblades, the two wings curling around her like a blanket. They were soft and squishy, like living liquid muscle, until it was time to fight with them. When used as weapons, they turned hard and sharp as diamond. Slowly, my tears dried, even as she held me still. 


	2. Chapter 2

It had been six years since that day.

Me and Junko were both sixteen, and beautiful in each our own rights. She never quit her cannibalistic diet, though our father begged and pleaded for our mother to make her - when he even paid attention. My guess was that he simply didn't enjoy sitting at the dinner table and eating alone when he didn't technically need to. No such change happened, so I helped raise Junko like you would a ghoul, though she was human. In my opinion, my little twin sister was the prettiest girl on the planet, regardless of her less-than-common diet. 

My parents were obsessed with Monaka, though.  
Monaka turned out just as our mother had wanted - a half-ghoul, hair and eyes green like spring grass. Her right eye was the one that took on ghoulish properties, when she learned how to wield them, and when her Kagune grew in, revealing her to not just be a halfling, but a one-eye. Half-ghouls were very strong in their own rights, but one-eyed ghouls were the stuff of legend. When mother found out about Monaka's type, she even abandoned Junko as well, her love and obsession focused on our little sister. I had gotten used to the abandonment and separation by then, my personality gone cold and expressions set like stone, but Junko was still impressionable. Still thought our parents had some love for her.

Her mistreatment was what enraged me. It made my blood boil, a hatred and passion I hadn't felt for such a long time, my body having gotten used to cold apathy. That heat and anger was always burning in the back of my heart every time I saw Monaka. Junko was awash with despair, I knew - though she hid it well, in shining smiles and bright eyes. But behind those gorgeous crimson eyes was something broken. It was obvious in the dullness of her eyes, how those red hues lost all their sparkle - so she took to wearing contacts. Her gaze had been dull and listless, but now were concealed by the unnaturally blue color of her new lenses. Artificially, she was happy. But even then, she sought approval from our parents, showing them the new acquisitions with a hopeful expression that she'd be accepted. But... The statement they gave was less than satisfactory.

"That's nice, honey. But why did you change it? The red color matched Monaka's green so well. Why choose blue of all things?"

Junko had run back to me, upset, with mascara stains smudged down her cheeks. I had held her, tried to cheer her up. Tried to be the immovable stone of the family, for her sake. During that time, when obsession with Monaka took over our family, we even got a letter from Kibougamine, a full scholarship. But...

Our parents barely noticed that we'd gotten such an amazing opportunity. They encouraged us, sure, but it was empty words.

"Good for you both!"

"I'm sure you'll do amazing there!"

It was all meaningless. The only thing us mentioning Kibougamine did was make them want to see if there was an elementary school program Monaka could try to get into. So we distanced ourselves. Kept away from mom and dad and our sister. I depended only on myself, Junko, and Fenrir. They were all I needed. That, and Kibougamine. It was the only stroke of luck that Kibougamine gave us an out - even let us stay in permanent residence dorms, even if it was just a highschool. Kibougamine was, in a sense, the most elite school in all of Japan. You couldn't enroll to the school itself, only to the Reserve Course of it. And that costed such an astronomical amount of money it was inconceivable for any normal person to consider. Agents from the school itself would come and tell you that you were invited to join their classes if you deserved to go. 

I say deserved because you could only be selected to attend if you had an extremely notable talent - if you were the absolute best at whatever you did. Since all of my years of training with 'friends' in Fenrir did lead to my developing strength, speed, and skill, I was selected as the ultimate solider. I considered myself more of a mercenary, but I completed any order I was given with a stone expression, without taking a scratch. Junko was selected as the ultimate gyaru, at least, publicly. From all of her years of teaching me, learning her own skills at school, she was extremely analytical and smart - though she kept it a secret behind blonde jokes and carefree laughter. Secretly, she was dually talented, the ultimate analyst. In my own opinion, I didn't deserve to go. But Junko... she absolutely did. She was the prettiest girl in the whole of the world, and she had such knowledge of fashion and the modeling environment from even such a young age, I knew sh deserved that title. 

School was a strange time for us. I hadn't ever attended school for very long before, as a ghoul - I had dropped out in near elementary, after all - but Kibougamine assured they provided a safe place for both children of human and ghoul descent. Junko fit in perfectly to the new environment from the moment she got there. Me... not so much. It was overwhelming, all the colors and scents and new experiences. I spent most of my time distant. But I had always been well-fed, so being surrounded by humans wasn't as bad as I had remembered it being. Perhaps being around Junko and our father my whole life had given me some kind of tolerance to the scent of their blood and flesh. My friends in training at Fenrir had told me once that starvation was hell for a ghoul, even though they could go a month without a proper feeding. I'd never really experienced it, but I hoped I had inherited my mother's tolerance for that sort of thing anyways. While at Kibougamine, I may have been quiet as usual, but I did manage to make a few friends even so. Most of them were Junko's who'd taken a liking to me, though. Some ghouls, some humans - having a mix of both was healthy, I felt. Even through my distance and caution, I'd finally made friends.

A human boy, the ultimate neurologist, named Yasuke Matsuda. A human girl, the ultimate princess, Sonia Nevermind. And a ghoul-girl named Peko Pekoyama, the ultimate swordswoman, and her ghoul-boy best friend, Fuyohiko Kuzuryuu, ultimate Yakuza. Junko was more friends with them than me, but Yasuke and I were close. For some reason, he seemed to take a liking to me. He was always quiet, and almost always frowning, usually with his nose in a book. He seemed like he was always glaring at _something_. But he was good at gathering information about the school and the steering committee who ran it, so I never objected to his surly moods. I stuck around him only for that reason.

"Mukuro-chan."

He spoke as if he was older than me. As if I was some cute child. I wasn't. In fact, I was older by a little under a year, even if we were in the same school-year. "Mukuro-chan, you only tolerate me for my knowledge, I can tell. So I'll tell you this, there's something going on with this school."

I guess I should have known not to lie to a neurologist. "Fine. Go ahead and tell me, then. Is it important?"

"You could say that. You know how Kibougamine boasts that it's a 'safe place'," he rose his hands to put air-quotes around the words, "for both ghouls and humans to mingle?"

"They told us that it was, but I don't fully believe it. Even though there hasn't been trouble yet, I don't like it."

"Good, you shouldn't. This entire school is a social experiment to see if the two species can live in harmony at all. I learned about it from the steering committee workers. And I stole one of their files. But that's not the important part! The school itself may be a massive experiment with all of our classes, but supposedly it's hiding something even worse. As far as I've heard, there's a laboratory under the school, full of surgery implements and doctors. Like a whole damn medbay. I don't know why, but they're hiring other neurologists." 

His glare intensified, and he sat down on one of the benches in the school hall, his expression dark. 

"Why would they need to do that? You're all they should need. You're already the ultimate neurologist."

"I'll try to get into the program if I can. But in all honesty, if whatever they're doing is that important, they probably wouldn't let me. Probably just because I'm too young or something. I'm sixteen. Can you believe that? Just denied because of my age? My talent should more than make up for it." 

"Unfortunately, yes, I can believe it," I murmured, as I sat down next to him, thinking. 

The topics had peaked my interest. An experiment to see if humans and ghouls could coexist wasn't anything special. It wasn't much other than a believable controversy. Sure, it was useful information, but it made me wonder. What kind of things would they have to cover up by using a literal human experiment? On children, no less? Sure, it was only social, but it was still dangerous. Any one of the ghouls here could go rogue. My gut told me that whatever Kibougamine was trying to hide, it was bad. Determined, I mentally vowed to uncover Kibougamine's most well-kept secrets... or rather, to have Junko and I do it together. She could be the face of the operation, the charming talker, and I could use my mercenary-like skills and ghoul abilities to get us into wherever we needed to be. I tapped my chin, mulling it over.

"Eugh. I don't like sarcasm. Haven't I taught you not to be rude, Mukuro-chan?"

I rolled my eyes at him. Giving an indignant snort, I let my eyes glass over in black and red, the ghoulish colours settling into place in an instant. I made a scary face, and bared my teeth, waving my hands in mock-warning. 

"Haven't you been taught not to talk to ghouls, Matsuda-san? Bad things happen when you're mean to them." 

He just gave me a weird look, a half-smile, and a huff. That was probably the most I was going to get out of him, if I was trying to make him laugh. I sat back and relaxed, letting my eyes fade back to their natural white and deep blue-grey. It's not like I was very good at jokes in the first place, but Matsuda wasn't someone who laughed often at all. But... I didn't mind his company. It provided a much needed balance to Junko's endless chatter, not that I minded her at all, and Sonia's boundless joy. 

...Speak of the devil, and so she shall appear, or so they say. Over came Junko, and her crowd of friends. I could smell them approaching from a ways away, even without turning to look. Sonia and her boyfriend, a ghoul named Gundam, and a boy named Souda tailing them as always. Behind them was a rowdy ghoul-girl who always seemed like she was starving for another fix, or like she was completely clueless, named Akane. Of course, there were others, but those were who's scent I caught first. Junko had taken the role of friend-group leader, and I was glad for that. Even if I didn't excel in communications with the others, Junko made it clear I was on equal footing with her. That I was her next in command, regardless of what happened or if I was well-received. Because... even if we had all these friends, Junko and I still only had eachother. We were together forever in that way. I adored and admired her more than anyone else in her group of friends. To me, she was perfect - radiant and beautiful - and she knew it, too. Sometimes, she would tease me about our differences, about how much I didn't resemble her at all. She never meant it to be rude, and I knew that, so I never objected to her words. 

"Junko," Matsuda greeted, giving her a nod.

"Matsuda-kun, Mukuro-ne, 'sup?" 

Junko spoke cooly, with a wave of her hand, perfectly manicured nails glinting in the light. Red and full of glitter. Junko smiled, pearl-white teeth gleaming. Snapped from my momentary reverie, I waved in return. "Not much. Hey, though... can I talk to you in private?" I tilted my head, looking up at her. 

She seemed surprised, blinking rapidly at me, her artificially-blue eyes wide. She was only caught off guard for a sheer moment, though, before giving a wide smile and a giggle. "Sure, sure! Come on, let's go back to the dorm. Actually~! I have something to tell you too." 

Offering me her hand, she pulled me to my feet. Matsuda gave us a nod, though it was pointed by one of his usual glares. I didn't worry - it was a sign he was being friendly. If he was actually irritated, one would know. I hurried along after my twin - even in heels, she was pretty damn fast. I wasn't slow, though - frankly, just a bit reluctant to go somewhere all the way across campus. And... I was feeling hungry, weirdly enough. I almost never did. Once we got there, to our shared dormitory, Junko flopped out onto the couch, leaving me to lock and close the door. Which I did, of course. I hated leaving doors unlocked. 

"So!" her voice rang out, "what'd you wanna tell me?" 

"It's about the school," I began, sitting down in the armchair next to her. "They're hiding something. Some kind of experiment, apparently. I don't know what it is, exactly, but they're hiring professional neurologists for it... and haven't once spoken to Matsuda-san." 

"That's weird. I found out something, too! You know those Reserve Course kids, right right?"

"Yeah, of course. I see them staring at us from their building all the time." It sat across from the main course campus, divided by a fountain and courtyard. "Why?"

The Reserve Course kids were...annoying. Nobodies who didn't have any special talents, but paid tons and tons of money to get "into" Kibougamine. All it did was stamp the name on their permanent record, at the end of the day. They liked to watch us with their expressions of melancholy dismay or hope from the alternate school building. Jealous, probably. Desperate to be in our place. Sometimes... I felt like I should at least speak to them. To try and be friendly, to bridge the gap between us. Talentless or not, they were still people, but... even Junko refused to speak to them. I'd always hesitate when the urge struck, and go back to whatever I was doing, ignore them again. Ignore their eyes full of envy. Most of them were human, as far as I knew, though I had sniffed out a ghoul or two in the mix. Suddenly, Junko spoke again, and my attention snapped back to the present.

"Well, one of them is supposedly... _special_. Like, being watched by the teachers. On observation or something."

I tapped a finger to my chin, thinking. That was odd - usually the teachers would disregard the Reserve Course even more than us students, if they worked in our Main building. I'd even overheard it being used as a threat - that if a teacher could not properly reign in her students, she'd be transferred to teach Reserve for a while. I looked to Junko, pursing my lips. "Do you know why?"

"All I know is that he's a ghoul. I was gonna ask you to talk to Kirigiri-chan about it. Cause she doesn't like me all that much."

I nodded. Kyouko Kirigiri was the principal's daughter. Her own talent was 'ultimate detective'. For some reason, she had a dislike of my beautiful twin, which in turn made me instinctually dislike her. But she knew a lot, especially about the goings-on of the school, privy to things most students were not. Whether it was because her father, Jin, ran the school or because she had already done some snooping around, I knew she had information. She always did. But... for some reason, she only spoke to humans, despite her late stepmother having been a ghoul. I suspect it was because she didn't like her stepmother, but I was unsure. Kyouko was a ghoul herself, but never interacted with any of us. I never really asked why. But now, Junko wanted me to talk to her... so now I'd have to find something to talk about with her first. Some way to break the ice between us. It's not as if I could go up and ask about the Reserve Course and the experiments directly - she wouldn't have told me even if she did have the information I wanted. Thinking it over, I glanced to Junko, pursing my lips.

"Do you know the kid's name? I might be able to speak to him. Reserve Course isn't off-limits from us. We could just visit."

"I think it's like... Hajime Hinata? I'm _pretty_ sure that's right. He looks super plain, but he has the same hair spikes that Makoto-kun has." 

Mentally, I couldn't help but translate the name. _The beginning of the end._ What an unfortunate name. Not like mine was much better - the kanji meant corpse. Sometimes, I wished I had a different name, and my friends had provided, offering a new nickname. Ikusaba. The sword of war. I took it on as my last name for enrolling at school, leaving behind any link to my parents. Fenrir told me Ikusaba was fitting of my title, but I had always wondered if that was true. At least 'Hajime' on its own was a plain, okay name. 

"I'll find him. You and Matsuda-san look for more on the experiment and the neurology reasons for me, okay?"

"Oh yes! I love spending time with Matsuda-kun!" Junko exclaimed, touching her hands to her cheeks as they flushed pink. I knew she'd jump at the chance. 

As far as I could tell, Junko'd had a crush on Matsuda for as long as we had known him. I didn't really understand why, since he was somewhat of an unpleasant person, but I never doubted Junko's choice and interest. To each their own. I smiled, patting her shoulder. The air in the room had been made lighter with her reaction, and I couldn't help but relax. 

"Oh, Mukuro-ne, what should I wear..? Should I re-dye my hair? My roots aren't showing, right?" Fretting, she tugged at her hairline, turning to look at her reflection in the TV, before looking at me with wide eyes. 

He was... really important to her. Enough so that it made her cautious of her already-perfect strawberry blonde hair. I laughed, and patted her head this time, fluffing her hair. "You look fine, Junko. You just dyed it a week ago."

"That's true..." she nodded, before grinning at me. "I hope we can have a good time investigating together."

"Right. I don't have a class right now, so I might ask Jin-sensei if I can shadow Hajime-san. I'm sure I could come up with a lie. To practice my skills at hiding and blending in to a crowd, maybe."

"So, like... you wanna hide and watch him? That's weird, Mukuro. You'd come off like a creep. Why don't you just ask him to lunch? I mean, you are both ghouls after all."

I paused. It was such an obvious solution. Too obvious for someone with my kind of social skill to even realise. I'd have to befriend him and learn more in that way. It's not like my elitism ran dep enough to prevent me from speaking a word with Reserve Course students. And that's exactly what it was... elitism. Because feeling like he was less deserving of face-to-face interaction just because he didn't have an ultimate talent was sheer elitism and prejudice on my part. Realizing that I had involuntarily just ruled out talking like normal people because of that was hard to come to terms with. But I resolved to befriend him, if only to prove to myself and others that I could. That the gap between courses could be lessened. 

"Right... well. Lunch is in a couple of minutes, so we'd better get going."


End file.
